rumiwritez

[rumiwritez]

Prologue

( a Pope Heyward Fan fiction. )

- pairings: Pope Heyward x fem!oc

- warnings: violence, strong language, underage drinking, mentions of drugs, mentions of a gun, character death, grieving, awkward encounters, lots of angst, secret pining after one another

- summary: Life in the big city wasn’t as glamorous as Nathan Grubbs expected. Being raised on the islands just off the coast of North Carolina, it felt like life had so much more to offer than fishing and boating. He just had to get back on the mainland and make a name for himself. However, that didn’t work out too well. Instead, he got a job as a carpenter, fell in love, had a baby, and found the love of his life doing just what she had done with him the first time they met: cheating. After the infidelity and the attempts of saving their dwindling relationship, Nate realized that the best thing he could do was pack everything up and go back home where he knew he would be welcomed, she would be welcomed. Bowie was eight when she was moved to the OBX from New Jersey. She went from living in this nice apartment with two parents to a shabby house with only one. She was devastated. And maybe that’s where her mean streak came from. She was mean to everyone, everyone except Pope Heyward. How could anyone be mean to Pope Heyward?

words: 1.3K

     Bowie Maribeth Grubbs was born at 2:35am on October 25, 2003, to Nathan Grubbs and Melissa Hawthorne. She was born without a strand of hair and a with weird purple hue. If you looked at the pictures, you probably wouldn’t think she was a human baby. She looked more like an alien than anyone had expected, more so than the normal ugly newborn curse. But her parents fell in love with her regardless of how strange she appeared, regardless of how high she could scream just for the sake of screaming, regardless of the mischief hidden within her soft, round eyes.

     She was lucky to have landed the parents she did. Her mom stayed at home with her, drinking her wine while Bowie drank from her bottle, to her sippy cup, cleaning the house while music blared from their home speakers. They had tea parties with store bought cookies (Bowie’s personal favorite), and watched movies until they both passed out on the couch. She’d take her to the park every once in a while to run and run until she could hardly breathe, her face beet red, legs shaking beneath her. Those were the moments Bowie treasured the most, listening to her mom cheer her on while she ran until her legs gave out, waiting on the sidelines with a cold bottle of water and snacks (which were mostly almonds, Colby Jack cheese, and sometimes a pack of Oreo's even though she wasn’t that big of a fan).

     Her father worked through the day, making money to help aid their endeavors. He worked diligently, hard, and happily. But when he is home, he loves listening to her talk about her day. He’d teach her jokes that most wouldn’t find very funny, but they did and that was all that mattered. He tried to teach her how to play guitar, specifically songs by the artist she was named after, but it proved futile after the third attempt. He didn’t mind that she wasn’t interested, he was just happy to spend time with her. Bowie was the light in his life. All of the plans he had before molded around her, giving him this destination that he looked forward to. He was the one to tuck her in, read her a bedtime story, and kiss her goodnight. He was the one who gifted her the 101 Dalmatians night light that never turned off regardless of it being night or day. He was her best friend at the end of the day, the person she relied on.

     Bowie Maribeth Grubbs grew up a little wacky. It took her a whole two years before she sprouted her first strand of bright red hair. It was like a flame in the sun, growing sparsely at the top of her head. When it first happened, her mom would tie it all up in those bands with the balls on the end. They were always a yellow color, like little suns resting on her head. Her teeth came in way too fast. She had cut two teeth at the same time, her right front tooth and the bottom tooth right next to her main two on the left side. She looked like an off center jigsaw puzzle, but it didn’t last long. She had sprouted almost all of them by the time she was a year and a half. It was weird seeing this tiny, freckled girl walking around with no hair but all of her teeth. She liked to say she was birthed to be a nightmare, though her parents always thought of her as a sweet dream.

     Her personality really began to shine as she got older. As a baby, she was pretty low maintenance. She was independent and liked the quiet times. She slept a lot, really, deciding to sit in the land of dreams than the real world. Even at a young age, she slept through the night. Her parents would wake her up every four hours to feed her, keep her replenished, and to make sure she was okay. They couldn’t invest in the high tech baby monitors, so they stuck with keeping her bassinet in the same room. Hearing her babble in her sleep, or even the soft movements against the blanket was enough to have her parents falling even deeper in love with her. Who wouldn’t fall in love with a perfect baby? The only imperfect thing about her was her weirdly massive poops, and that could be looked over (by her mom, at least, since Nathan was usually the one to change her).

     She was three when they started noticing different things about her. She was a persistent thing. When she wanted something, she’d babble or talk until she got it. She’d point, stare, and wait until they gave up and she got what she wanted.She was fearless, too. Everything her father did, she did too. She’d climb onto things with no fear. She started walking without anyone in the room, all because she wanted the television remote. She didn’t care about the consequences as long as she got what she wanted, what she needed, or what she believed would benefit her. She grew up with those traits, applying them to her life as it changed. She became as stubborn as a mule, and had even gotten pretty good at arguing. She gathered an adventurous spirit, one longing to experience new things regardless of whether they were good or bad.

     Her life was the best she could have asked for. Her parents loved her unconditionally. They spent time together, they created these memories that would last for lifetimes further down in the future. She found at at age eight what a facade was. She was seven years old when she came back from a sleepover to find her father crying in their kitchen, broken glass scattered across the floor. She could hear her mother screaming from the back bedroom, words she had never heard her use before. Her voice was full of anger, full of this painful, searing hatred. “What’s going on?” she asked, her voice small as she stood inside her house feeling as if she wasn’t supposed to be there. It was the first time she had ever felt alone.

     Melissa Hawthorne had cheated on Nathan Grubbs. It wasn’t as big as a surprise as her father thought, they had gotten together while she was married to her last husband. But just because he had somewhat expected this, it still hurt. She had taken this perfect family and smeared it into the dirt. And she had done it in front of their child, in front of the one person they loved more than themselves. He tried to fix things. He took her to couple’s therapy, they had even tried living separately. No matter what he tried, however, he still felt broken. He still felt as if he had lost a part of him, a limb or even his liver. Because once he realized that their relationship had sunken too far, he turned to the bottle.

     Nathan Grubbs wasn’t a drunk. He didn’t drink until he couldn’t see, or until he had reached the point where he could no longer feel his fingertips. No, he drank a little at a time just to push himself to finish the day, just to urge himself to continue to breathe and exist for the sake of his little girl. She was eight years old when he decided to pack her things and move her back to his hometown. She was eight years old when she transferred to a school in the middle of the year, where she knew no one and knew nothing of where she was. He uprooted her life and planted her in sand, who even knew if she could survive there? Because she was still a sapling and they didn’t know what the wet sand and salty water could do to her in the long run.

[rumiwritez]

Rose Colored Boy

( a Pope Heyward Fan fiction. )

- pairings: Pope Heyward x fem!oc

- warnings: violence, strong language, underage drinking, mentions of drugs, mentions of a gun, character death, grieving, awkward encounters, lots of angst, secret pining after one another

- summary: Life in the big city wasn’t as glamorous as Nathan Grubbs expected. Being raised on the islands just off the coast of North Carolina, it felt like life had so much more to offer than fishing and boating. He just had to get back on the mainland and make a name for himself. However, that didn’t work out too well. Instead, he got a job as a carpenter, fell in love, had a baby, and found the love of his life doing just what she had done with him the first time they met: cheating. After the infidelity and the attempts of saving their dwindling relationship, Nate realized that the best thing he could do was pack everything up and go back home where he knew he would be welcomed, she would be welcomed. Bowie was eight when she was moved to the OBX from New Jersey. She went from living in this nice apartment with two parents to a shabby house with only one. She was devastated. And maybe that’s where her mean streak came from. She was mean to everyone, everyone except Pope Heyward. How could anyone be mean to Pope Heyward?

Prologue

Chapter One